Parshas Devarim: The Vantage Point:

An old friend was traveling in California and when the clock hit three o’clock a.m., he decided that it was time to call it a night. He began leafing through a tour book, and he discovered the phone number of a motel advertised to be open twenty-four hours a day. He dialed the number, and after the phone rang some thirty times, a groggy-sounding voice picked up. After inquiring about rates, rooms, and availability, the clerk suddenly lashed out, “do you know what time it is?” The fellow replied, “Well it says that you are open twenty fours a day.” The clerk responded “Sure we’re open twenty-fours a day, but not at three in the morning!”

That same friend was walking in Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco when a street person walked over and asked him if he wanted to play a game. He replied in the affirmative. The fellow then said “I am a shoe shiner, and I really know shoes. Let’s make a deal. If I can guess where you got your shoes, what city, what state, you give me five dollars. If however I am wrong, I’ll give you a free shoe shine. And you know what, even if you are wrong and you give me five dollars, I’ll still give you a free shoe shine.” The deal was on. They then shook hands. The shoe shiner told the fellow, “My father told me never to shake hands with a man on his own game! You got your shoes on your feet, in San Francisco, California. Now hand over the five dollars! “

Life is a matter of perspective, and this Shabbos in particular is about gaining a new perspective. This Shabbos is called Shabbos Chazon. It gets its name of Chazon from the first word of the Haftorah, recalling the vision of Isaiah. The prophet Isaiah had the ungrateful task of putting things into their proper perspective. He forewarned the Jewish People about the impending destruction of the Temple. His pleas went unanswered. In perhaps the most striking admonishment, Isaiah prophesied that G-d had no more desire for the Jewish People’s sacrifices and offerings. The People were praying and practicing, but the intention of their deeds were ignoble. It is quite fitting that this haftorah is read during the week in which we commemorate the destruction of the two Temples on the ninth of Av. The haftorah serves as a focus for the mourning of the ninth of Av and of the three weeks preceding it. Jews do not mourn the past. We mourn the present. Our present tragedy is that the Temple remains destroyed. Isaiah was spelling out the root cause for the destruction.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch remarks that the Jew does not mourn that thousands of years ago the Temple was destroyed, rather that it had to have been destroyed. Not over the destruction, rather over the causes of the destruction. Rabbi Hirsch concludes, “Therefore every recurring ninth of Av, in the light of this word of the prophet is to pose the question to every generation: Is our Jewish contemporary present already so deeply imbued with the Jewish spirit, so filled with the Jewish way of thinking, with knowledge of Judaism, with knowledge of the all comprising and deep contents of the Torah that it can form a worthy environment for a Temple of G-d to be erected in its midst? Does not the gulf between Israel and its G-d yawn perhaps wider than ever?”

Let us look to change our perspective during this week of Tisha B’Av. Tisha B’Av is no mere commemorative day on the Jewish calendar. It is a call to action to rebuild and to reconnect. Let us use this Tisha B’v as an opportunity to rectify the causes for the destruction, thereby pouring the foundation for the Third Temple to be built speedily in our times!